


The Black archer

by codenamepenguin



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Adventure, Fluff and Angst, Humor, M/M, Rescue, What if?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:08:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26398399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/codenamepenguin/pseuds/codenamepenguin
Summary: An encounter with a silent stranger softens Magnus’ war wearied heart. A pre- Season 1 what-if story.
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Comments: 6
Kudos: 83
Collections: September Server Scavenger Hunt 2020





	The Black archer

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bidness](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bidness/gifts).



> This fic is based on this fabulous piece of art by bidness https://bidnezz.tumblr.com/post/618426203952627712/archer

[ ](https://imgbb.com/)

Magnus paused on the steps of the church.

It’s not like he had never been inside a religious building before, but best not to tempt fate. Today _might_ be the day that he did burst into flames.

He forced himself to concentrate.

If the meeting place was good enough for Raphael, it was good enough for him. For a moment longer though, he looked around behind him at the darkened street outside. Dawn was coming, but they still had an hour or so, which meant it was still dark enough to hide in the shadows.

And something was hiding in the shadows. He didn’t need to see them to know.

He pushed against the heavy wooden doors and quickly stepped inside. ‘Raphael?’

The vampire waved at him, his enhanced hearing easily picking up his whisper.

Magnus hurried to his side, staring in surprise at three young vampires cowering behind him in the shadows. They looked newly turned.

‘I found them by the warehouses,’ Raphael explained in his usual somber tone, ‘homeless kids.’

‘Who did this?!’ Magnus thundered.

The young people, two girls and one boy, cringed as the warlock’s voice washed over them, along with a tendril of his powerful magic.

‘It’s alright,’ he reassured them. ‘He’s a friend. Don’t be afraid.’

The vampire turned back to him. ‘I don’t know, but I have my suspicions. ’

‘Who?’

After all their hard work at forging and keeping the accords, Magnus was going to kill this vampire a second time.

‘Let me check something first,’ Raphael hedged, shifting from foot to foot.

_Okay then._

Raphael never fidgeted.

‘I take it you need a portal,’ Magnus said instead, deciding not to press for the moment.

‘Thank you, papa,’ he said absently, ‘I didn’t want to risk it with the time going.’

A priest with wild fluffy white hair, materialized abruptly from behind a statue of the Virgin Mary, ‘Raphael? Who is this?’

‘It’s alright, Father Maxwell,’ Raphael smiled, elbowing Magnus in his ribs to do the same.

‘Good morning, Father,’ Magnus said politely, quite aware that his mesh top had his entire chest on display. He was still at his club, when the vampire sent out the distress call.

‘Good morning, my sons,’ the old man said pleasantly, ‘are you sure you don’t need any help?’

‘We just needed a moment to catch our breath,’ Raphael gently reassured the man. ‘Thank you for letting us in.’

‘There is safe refuge here for all in need,’ the cleric insisted, as he shuffled away. ‘You know that.’

Magnus raised a surprised eyebrow, ‘he knows about you?’

‘No, I don’t think so,’ the vampire said unsurely, ‘but I think he knows I am different somehow. He’s a friend.’

‘I didn’t know you had so many friends,’ Magnus teased mischievously, ‘when did this start?’

Raphael turned to frown at him, when a loud noise came from outside.

_What the?_

‘Um, let’s get that portal open, shall we?’ Magnus stated, because in his four centuries of experience, noises like that in the wee hours of the morning, were never good.

A demon or two shrieking outside seemed to echo this sentiment.

‘They are the same ones that have been following us!’ one of the girls cried out in dismay.

‘What in Edom is going on?!’ Magnus shouted at his vampire friend.

‘Portal now, talk later!’ Raphael insisted, drawing a sword. He put his back against the door that Father Maxwell had just vanished through, just in case.

Would demons breach the sanctity of a holy place just to get to their prey?

Perhaps.

The angels made their presence felt when they chose, and five downloaders were probably not high on their list of priorities.

One of the girls shrieked and pointed, as a figure all in black suddenly dropped out of nowhere behind them, and on to the shadowy darkness of the altar.

Magnus was so shocked, his portal evaporated. Of course, the demons chose that moment to show their hideous faces, through one of the open stained glass windows.

He gathered a fireball in his hand, as the figure reached back to pull out an arrow and notch it in his bow.

The warlock quickly realized though that this mundane was a friend, as he pointed an arrow towards the window and not to them.

But no…

Not a mundane.

Only those of their world could see demons.

‘Magnus, portal!’ Raphael screeched, wondering why he was standing their gawking.

Right.

With a quick flick of his wrist, a swirl of blue magic opened a doorway right at his elbow.

‘One portal to safety, ladies and vamps,’ he announced.

The demons, as if sensing a shift in the air, became desperate. One of them hesitantly climbed into the window, and when nothing happened to the first one, the others scurried in like roaches.

The archer on the altar lit one of his arrows using one of the convenient candles, and aimed at the first demon.

‘I think you’ve been watching too much television,’ Magnus quipped, ‘there is no way you can hit that demon from that distance.’

The first demon vanished in a puff of evil smoke.

The archer tilted his head in a cocky way.

_You were saying._

Magnus grinned impressed.

He sensed no magic at all. The man’s aim was true.

‘It’s him,’ Raphael muttered as he pushed the first of the young persons through the portal, ‘the black archer.’

The black archer.

A rather unimaginative name downworlders had given the mysterious vigilante who started patrolling the streets, a few months ago. Most times, the archer just stood there staring at the downworlders from a distance. Sometimes he would pull up his hoodie and come closer to help.

Magnus had never seen him before. Well seen was a loose term. He couldn’t make out his features at all, but he was tall, and the way his lean muscular body pulled at the giant bow as though it was an extension of himself, made him look like a dancer. A sexy dancer.

His legs went right to the top!

‘Well at least now I am sure he’s a friend,’ he said to himself.

Raphael tossed the other two who were hesitating into the void. ‘Magnus, ready!’

‘Hey!’ Magnus cried out to the stranger as he took down another demon, ‘come on!’

But the man only shook his head, turning around to menace the last demon, protecting Magnus’ escape.

The warlock hesitated but he had other responsibilities now. Anyhow, archer appeared to know how to take care of himself. He jumped through the portal and sealed it quickly.

‘Magnus, thank you,’ Raphael enfolded him in a quick hug, before he drew back and lapsed into his more reserved persona.

The warlock thought that his thanks was a bit misplaced. ‘It appears that we have more than one mystery on our hands.’

Raphael looked behind to ensure the new charges were being taken care of.

‘Don’t laugh, but I have a theory about the archer,’ the vampire muttered, pulling him into a quiet corner. ‘I think it’s a shadow hunter.’

‘And I think you need to go drink something,’ Magnus snorted, ‘you are clearly lightheaded.’

‘Hear me out,’ Raphael insisted crossly, ‘Who could it really be? You didn’t feel any magic, did you? He appears day and night, so that crosses out vamps.’

‘He’s a seelie, obviously.’

Raphael shook his head. It was something in his bearing. Seelies were fluid and deadly. Archer was deadly but more military. It was what made him think hunter in the first place.

‘Why would a shadowhunter help us?’ Magnus hissed. ‘Have you forgotten the wars?’

‘Shadowhunters are not immortal and their ranks change, so does their cultural memory,’ Raphael muttered thoughtfully, ‘Perhaps one of them is questioning why we have to live like this, always at each other's throats.’

‘You really think that?’

‘Times change, Magnus,’ Raphael murmured as his body trembled, his internal clock sensing the impending dawn. He hurried away into the hotel and all its protective windows snapped closed, one after the other.

The warlock stared contemplatively at the horizon, as the sun slowly rose.


End file.
